1830 the tribes had moved in a direction to live with the whites and adopted the ways of the white man. The Indians resisted suggestions that they should remove themselves from their own land. So, President Jackson urged the Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act, which appropriated funds for relocation, by force if necessary. Jackson sent officials to try to negotiate treaties with the Indians. Some tribes reluctantly signed and prepared to move, but not the Cherokees, who took extensive steps to adopt white ways. The Cherokees fought back by using the law. At first, it appeared they won because the Supreme Court said that legally the Cherokees could not be removed from their land. But Jackson refused to follow the ruling of the Supreme Court. The Cherokees were then forced to leave their lands and go west to Oklahoma. This was called the “Trail of Tears” because along the journey to Oklahoma more than one-quarter of the Cherokees died. The Seminole tribe took a different route then the Cherokees and they fought back. The war lasted into the 1840’s and the government just decided to give up and let them stay. My father tells me that this was a time the government is already trying to ignore and not acknowledge it as a very brutal and pointless mistake.Slavery is another event that did not exactly affect my family personally, but since I am a strong believer in human rights I hate slavery. Since we live just outside of Boston and a lot of slaves flee to Boston when they escape we used to see many ex-slaves up here. We even let some stay with us for a while when they first escaped. Then the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850. This act helped slave owners greatly because even if a slave had escaped he was not safe at all up North. People that harbored slaves could also get in trouble for housing them. Even though this was in effect my family took the risk and helped slaves that had escaped. All t...
